By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Attacks on computer systems are such a dire threat to national security that President Obama should create a new cyber security agency with the power to regulate the Internet and build weapons for a "hidden war'' that has already begun, say the authors of a groundbreaking study released today.

Only a new White House cyber security office will have the clout needed to overhaul the nation's approach to "a battle we are losing'' in virtual space, according to Rep. James R. Langevin, D-R.I., and the report's co-authors.

"We are in a longterm struggle with criminals, foreign intelligence agencies, militaries, and others with whom we are intimately and unavoidably connected through a global digital network,'' the commission reports. "This struggle does more real damage every day to the economic health and national security of the United States than any other threat.''

The authors reach into history to dramatize the severity of the threat, comparing the national blind spot on cyber security to America's slowness in the early 20th century to grasp that aviation would change the face of warfare and commerce worldwide. They contrast the U.S. lag in the cyber wars to Great Britain's invaluable secret weapon during World War II, a system that cracked German communications codes, permitting Allied military leaders to read enemy battle plans before they were executed.

Today, the commission warns, the U.S. is not playing the role the British played in these decisive intelligence and communications battles of World War II.

The commission prescribes a detailed and ambitious program for recapturing the U.S. advantage in the world of computer communications. If Mr. Obama decides to adopt it, the program could prove controversial as well because involves potentially ferocious turf battles in and out of government, plus significant federal investment and a willingness on the part of the business world to cede some control to federal regulators to gain better security.

"The immediate risk lies with the economy,'' the report says. "Most companies' business plans involve the use of cyberspace to deliver services, manage supply chains, or interact with customers. Equally important, intellectual property is now stored in digital form, easily accessible to rivals. Weak cybersecurity dilutes our investment in innovation while subsidizing the research and development efforts of foreign competitors.''

In this context, the authors argue that the success of U.S. business in global competition is essential to national security.

James A. Lewis, of Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank that specializes in national security issues, is the chief of the study commission.

Cochairmen of the commission are Langevin; Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas; Scott Charney, an executive at Microsoft, and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry Raduege, of Deloitte & Touche. Langevin is chairman, and McCaul the ranking Republican member, of the House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cyber Security and Science and Technology. Charney and Raduege are ranking experts on computer security issues at their respective companies.

More about the report and its mission from a Providence Journal story today ...